hello, i'm wolf blitzer. it's 12:00 p.m. noon in indian nola iowa. it's 9:00 p.m. in moscow. wherever you're watching around the world, thank you for joining us. nearly 75 million people in the united states could be affected by it. thousands of flights will likely be canceled because of it. the record books may be changed by it. get ready for what's shaping up to be the first massive blizzard of 2016. just this hour, the national weather service put washington, d.c., the baltimore area, under a blizzard warning. our meteorologist is tracking the situation from our severe weather center. what's the latest forecast? how bad is it going to be? >> unfortunately, wolf, the computer models continue to be an incredible agreement with how

much snow is going to fall in the washington/baltimore area. on an average year, 15 1/2 inches in d.c. all of last year, 18.3. we could see that in just a single 24-hour period. for our international viewers, this is like 65 to even 75 centimeters. this is going to be a paralyzing storm. we need to talk about the watches and warnings. washington, d.c. now under a blizzard warning. it goes into effect at 1:00 p.m. it was yellow which was a blizzard watch which has been extended up to new york and long island. that's 30 million americans. wolf, yesterday, i know we talked conservatively about 30 million or so losing power. we could see several million losing power. any of you having a flight over the east coast, listen closely. charlotte, douglas international airport, can be shut down for a centimeter of ice. to dulles international. to bwi. all of these airlines could be shut down. now new york city, this is where it gets interesting. we've got a dozen states with

warnings now. there's so many elements that with this storm is severe. here it is just starting to take shape. we've got severe weather in the forms of damaging winds and isolated tornadoes. yes, tornadoes. you don't see this very much in the month of january. once the storm starts to ramp up and we find the center in the next few hours, then we'll be able to track it because that means everything. significant icing, tennessee, up in the ohio valley, changes other to significant snow. the icing that will take effect in the carolinas is going to shut down power to millions. then as it really ramps up and the energy often the coast picks up, not only will we have more icing dotting the power lines and trees but the snow accumulation will come down at a rate that many have never seen before and it will be a story for children and grandchildren. the winds with this, we're talking about winds that could create at full moon on saturday a storm surge that could rival that of superstorm sandy. as we look at the assuccumulati here, wolf, we're still talking a good 20, 30 inches in d.c.

this model cuts it off at new york. so quickly for you, even though some forecast models want to give new york maybe 6 to 12 inches, the latest american model still gives a good 31 in d.c. and drops new york down to 2. so wolf, until the storm is defined and we have a real track with it, this is still up in the air for new york city. watching it closely. >> we're getting ready to shovel snow here in washington, d.c., tom, thanks very much. to presidential politics here in the united states right now. republican senator ted cruz, he's on the campaign trail this hour. he's under attack from so-called establishment republicans. within the last 48 hours alone, former senator and presidential candidate bob dole, iowa senator chuck grassley, iowa governor terry bra terry bran stead, they've all come out against cruz. how is the cruz campaign, the

senator specifically, responding? >> well, it's really interesting, wolf, ted cruz is really holding this up almost as a badge of honor, browardly, you know, using this criticism from republican establishment wing of the party. really holding it up as evidence to voters he is the anti-establishment candidate, the one to choose, as saying this is a sign the establishment is in full panic mode and touting this has really gal vannized his supporters who done eight money to his campaign. thie they've been fund-raising over these attacks. they raised $700,000 this week alone since this pile-on has started. this is where ted cruz finds his comfort, really directing fire at the establishment. as we've been with him all week here in new hampshire, has managed to really knock him off his message. he's been having to respond to questions about this criticism, rather than focus on framing his final message going into the iowa caucuses and going into new

hampshire. wolf. >> all right, thank you very much. the kentucky senator rand paul, he's struggling right now to break into the top tier of republican primary candidates, with the iowa caucuses just 11 days away, is time running out? senator paul is joining us. thank you very much for joining us. first of all, i'm curious, your dad, the former congressman ron paul who you love obviously, i've talked to him many times, he says your campaign may surprise everybody, but he also tells "the hill" newspaper that it's realistic, that's his word, realistic, that trump could be the republican nominee. >> it's kind of funny how things get misrepresented. they asked him is it realistic. he took it to mean is it a possibility. he said sure it's a possibility. then he went on to say why he thought the polls were wrong and we were really going to surprise people. the internet's sort of like the circular game as a kid. you whisper from one to the next. by the time it makes it around the circle, everybody's not what

i meant to say at all. >> in new hampshire according to our poll, you're now tied with christie and kasich with 6% but donald trump, he's at 34%. it's pretty impressive. >> i think the polls are probably inaccurate. a lot of young people aren't polled. we haven't met a college student who's ever been poll. we think our strength is with young people. i've been the leading advocate for saying the government shouldn't collect phone records. and i also don't think our government ought to think young people to war back in the middle east again. think we're going to get a lot of the youth vote. it doesn't show up in polls necessarily. >> in iowa, the most recent poll shows cruz and trump almost in a dead heat in iowa now. you're together with a lot of others way, way down. you don't think those polls are accurate in iowa either? >> one of the things they're underestimating, my dad got over 20%. most of the polls are way under 10% for him. so they're losing about half of the vote that he got in 2012. so i just don't think the polls are finding them.

the polls also maybe finding people who are angry that never show up at a caucus. those might be trump voters. i think it's a mistake to prejudge this and say, oh, you know what, the election's over. i think it's still very fluid. the last des moines register poll, over half the people in the poll were not yet certain who they were going to vote for. >> at least a third, maybe a lot more in new hampshire. they still haven't 100% made up their mind. maybe are still on the fence. there's a notion this race, among the republicans, is a race between the so-called outsiders and the establishment. where do you fit in? >> i've been running against the establishment ever since i got involved in politics. the establishment handpicked somebody who i was able to beat. i'm a physician. i've been a physician most of my career. took time often from being a physician to try to straighten things out in washington. but i think i would be one of the biggest opponents of the establishment that you probably have up here. >> as you know, i a sum you know, monday night, cnn is going to host a town hall in iowa.

chris cuomo will moderate. hillary clinton, martin o'malley. people at the town hall will ask questions. if you were one of those people, what would you ask hillary clinton right now? >> why do you think that regime change in the middle east, toppling gadhafi, was a good idea, when it seemed to make isis stronger and why do you think the same for syria? why do you think toppling assad will make us safer when in reality i think it makes isis stronger. >> the view of you is you're an i isolationist. you call yourself an interventionist, right? >> we have to look at our intervention and find out whether it's worked. i don't see any instance in the middle east where our intervention has worked. when we toppled gadhafi, we got a failed state in libya. when mubarak left in egypt, we got the muslim brotherhood. if we topple assad, my fear is we get isis.

when we toppled saddam hussein. it's not a question of never intervening. it's a question of more versus less. i think considerably less. >> on these issues, you and donald trump aren't that far apart. you studied his foreign policy. >> i'm not sure he can call it a foreign policy but he said he was against the iraq war. >> you're critical of the iraq war. he seems to say much of the same thing you're saying. >> i don't think he has a consistent foreign policy but i think he and ted cruz who want to make the sand glow and want to do carpet bombing over there or bomb the heck out of them. i think if you do indiscriminate bombing in the middle east you may well create more terrorists than you kill. i think we do have to kill our enemies but if we're going to kill whole towns as cruz has proposed, i think indiscriminate killing actually creates more terrorists than you kill. >> the governor of iowa terry br bransted says it would be a desafer if cruz were the

nominee. he said don't vote for cruz. he didn't endorse you or anyone else but he said don't vote for ted cruz. who would be worst from your perspective as the republican nominee, cruz or trump? >> i think ted cruz's problem is one of authenticity right now, you know, for example the liberty voters, the people who we like and like us, they don't want the nsa collecting all the phone records but ted cruz says, oh, i voted for reform, but i voted for the reform so the government can collect 100% of your phone records. my goodness, is he trying to have it both wayings? he says he's for reforming the nsa and he says he wants the nsa to collect 100% of cell phone records. that kind of leap back and forth or trying to have it both ways really, we think, is probably cruz's biggest problem now. >> from your libertarian perspective, who is worse, trump or cruz? >> i can tell you who's best. that would be my -- >> i know you think you're best but who would be worse for the republicans? you're an honest guy, be blunt. >> i don't think it's probably instructive. i do worry a little more about

trump and the main reason i do is i believe he wants more power to come to him and he'll take care of us all if we just give him power. i'm part of a limited government tradition that says, you know, power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. i want to devolve power back to the states and the people. there's a long-standing conservative/libertarian tradition of that, and i'm more than willing to hold that up against what trump wants because i think what trump wants is bad for america. >> as far as the iran nuclear deal is concerned, it's now being implemented, you voted against it, but americans have been released i think as part of that iran nuclear deal, they're on their way home, al abedini, hekmati. are you happy about this, being implemented right now? >> if iran adheres to the deal, it would be a great thing. the deal describes them getting rid of their nuclear program, not making, you know, enriching

uranium used for weaponization. the question has been will they adhere to the agreement. i would have preferred more leverage to hold over them to enforce their compliance, keeping the sanctions on. now that it's a done deal, if they adhere to it, it's still a good thing. the question is are they adhering now because they have the carrot, the money, or will they continue to adhere when we're six months out, a year out from now. >> you have to do how well by the way in iowa and new hampshire, otherwise you'll drop out, give us an answer. >> we're in it to win it. when we go into a swim meet, you don't go into a swim meet saying i'm getting third, maybe fourth. we're in to win it and we're going to shock a lot of people. >> senator, thank you for joining us. hillary clinton campaigning in i've while trump heads to vegas. and later, republican presidential candidate rick santorum joins us. we'll talk about his strategy in iowa. he won iowa four years ago.

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hillary clinton is looking for an edge in iowa as the clock ticks down tore the first day of voting. her husband's presidential library in little rock plans to release nearly 500 pages of documents about donald trump's interactions with the clinton white house. the files potentially could revive some questions about the once friendly relationship trump had with the clintons before he launched his presidential bid. joining us now is the chief strategist for the clinton 2016 campaign. joel, thank you for joining us. what do you think these documents will do? do you believe they will raise questions about the trump/clinton past relationship? >> i don't know. i don't know what will matter to the republican primary voters or not. as it relates to mr. trump.

certainly, i think independent voters, middle of the road voters, who are following that closely are not going to be over the long term in any general election i think looking at that, those documents. i think they're going to be looking at whether or not what mr. trump is saying is offensive to them is appealing to them. i think like every other candidate, they've got a host of positions i think that are alienating to middle of the road voters that you have to win down the line in a general election. i think that's going to be more important than what happens with these documents. >> as you know, the polls show very, very close in iowa between hillary clinton and bernie sanders. he has a very impressive lead in new hampshire according to our latest cnn/wurm poll. do you think it's possible for her to lose in iowa, lose in new hampshire but still win the nomination? >> first, wolf, you know, we've gone back and forth on polls

before. i notice you said the polls show. at the time your poll was in the field, there were two other polls in new hampshire that showed a single digit race, two and three points. i think both of these states are going to be competitive. we said that from the beginning back in the summer when i was on your show, said i expected these things will be competitive because that's the nature of the first two states. you don't bet all your marbles on any of these states. this is a marathon, not a sprint. you were there in 2008. i was there in 2008. this is about winning delegates over the long run and winning states over the long run. we're very well positioned for that. we feel very good about iowa. and we feel that secretary clinton's message about making real differences and getting real results that will make a difference in people's lives is resonating. we know new hampshire is going to be tough. it's always a strong state for new englanders. all new englanders have been like favorite sons in new hampshire. we're going to fight in both states until the end. we feel good about our prospects going forward.

>> why is she more qualified to be the democratic nominee than bernie sanders? the major argument, the hillary clinton campaign major argument against him is what? >> well, first of all, i think the major argument against him is people need a president who can do all parts of the job. get their economic lives moving forward and building on that progress. and who can keep america safe. if you look in recent days, there's been an array of criticism coming from the national security and counterterrorism community about what senator sanders is offering when the biggest global threat we face today is isis. we all know it. they can't be contained. they have to be destroyed. the plans he's recommending are to send iranian troops into syria. which would put troops on israel's doorsteps, which i don't think anybody thinks is a good idea. he'd also called for iran and saudi arabia to work together. these are two intense enemies. this is an idea that no one can

understand that he's put on the table. whether you're talking about any expert in the region or national security experts, counterterrorism experts, i don't think you can find a single one who will say what senator sanders is doing is a pathway to a coalition that will stabilize the region. it's a pathway to creating more conflict and chaos in the region. it's inexplicable. i think sanders is a passionate advocate. i think what voters and people at home want is a president who can deliver real results, improve their lives when it comes to getting equal pay, creating good paying jobs that will raise people's incomes because that's how you have to raise incomes in this country. i think democrats are not as far apart from each other as they are with republicans and i think what primary voters will look at is which one of these people will get these results done that will make a difference in their lives. >> one final question, the whole issue of the e-mail controversy out there, hovering over hillary

clinton's head. the spokesman for your campaign said that the inspector general for the intelligence community, charles mick call la, is not acting in good faith. what evidence do you have he's not acting in good faith? >> well, look, i'm not an expert in what the inspector general is doing or not doing. what i know about it is nothing is materially changed. there have been no e-mails that were classified that were sent or received by secretary clinton. there's no evidence of it. nobody's asserted it. i think the american people are aware of it. they saw her testify for 11 hours before a benghazi committee. even republicans admitted was built to hurt her politically. they saw her go toe-to-toe with that committee for 11 hours. and i think they know that she's got the toughness and the tenacity it takes to do the job. and that's what's going to matter to them on caucus day in iowa and primary day in new

hampshire. >> all right, joel, benenson from the clinton campaign. thank you. i'll be interviewing hillary clinton later today in the "situation room." at 5:00 p.m. joining us is the national spokeswoman for the trump campaign. what's your take on these nearly 500 pages of documents being reeb leased by the clinton library that are all about the donald trump relationship with the clintons, going back to the clinton white house? >> well, wolf, i got to tell you, this lets us know that hillary clinton is very much aware that donald trump is going be to the gop nominee or she wouldn't be addressing this now. we're not concerned about that. donald trump has made clear of all of his past positions and riches. he hasn't left anything out. we're prepared to go through that. donald trump has shown he has been able to build a coalition of voters from republicans to

democrats, independents, minorities, women, even evangelicals and moderates. we're very much prepared to go toe-to-toe with hillary clinton in the general. >> sarah palin who endorsed trump now, she got a lot of people talking yesterday when she told trump supporters at a rally in oklahoma that her son's recent arrest on domestic violence charges stem from ptsd. he served in the u.s. military. that was because of president obama's lack of respect for verdi veterans, she asserted. listen to this. >> but my son, like so many others, they come back a bit different. they come back hardened. they come back wondering if it is that their fellow soldiers and airmen and every other member of the military so sacra fishally have given to this country and that starts from the top is ashamed that our military personnel even have to wonder,

question if they are respected anymore. it starts from the top. the question that comes from our own president where they have to look at him and wonder, do you know what we go through? >> in response, the head of the new york-based veterans organization iraq and afghanistan veterans in america, they told nbc news that the president can't be blamed for someone coming back with ptsd. your response. >> i would say the president is in charge of his administration and i think it's been very well documented that there are several problems in the veterans, and i can say from experience of 14 years of health care, something needs to be done to help our veterans and nothing's being done. this president has gone so far out of his way as to executive orders to help illegal aliens in this country get access to benefits but not veterans and there's a problem. >> the bromance between your

candidate donald trump and cruz, they're really going at each other seriously. listen to this. >> right now, the washington establishment is abandoning marco rubio. they've made the assessment that marco can't win this race. the washington establishment is rushing over to support trump. >> so what's the point here, what are you trying to suggest? >> i think what's happening is only one person can win and it's come down to ted cruz and trump. so of course he's positioned himself to be the washington outsider, the fight, the outside establishment guy. unfortunately, there's a lot of people that have come to the aid of trump who are outsiders, who have a clear record of fighting against the establishment. even when you look at the endorsement of sarah palin. when you look at someone who is very much well respected on the religious right has come out and supported trump.

so mr. cruz is having a really hard time trying to reconcile where he fits into this race. donald trump is not the establishment. a lot of people understand that. what a lot of people also know is that it's going to take a coalition to win in a general election and only donald trump has proven he's able to build one. >> final question katrina. today donald trump took a swipe at the conservative commentator glenn beck for endorsing cruz. he tweeted this, quote, wacko @glennbeck is a sad answer. glenn is a failing, crying lost soul. tell us why you're smiling. >> because this is also on the cusp of a fake tweet that glenn beck had been sending out about donald trump supporting barack obama in '08 and there's been a lot of backlash from that. so it's one thing to go out there and support your candidate but it's another thing to tear down someone with fake information. so that's why donald trump is

responding that way. plus, glenn beck went after sarah palin of all people. when you have someone going after someone that you know is tried and true, there's a serious problem with integrity. >> katrina pierson, the spokesman for the trump campaign, thank you. four years ago, santorum won the iowa caucuses. he's aiming to do it again now. will his low poll numbers hurt? a high number of competitors out there now. there he is, the former pennsylvania senator. he'll answer all the questions live right after a break. your heart loves omega-3s. but the omega-3s in fish oil differ from megared krill oil. unlike fish oil, megared is easily absorbed by your body. megared. the difference is easy to absorb.

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less than two weeks until the iowa caucuses, many presidential candidates, they're feeling the crunch right now, especially when you look at all

the poll numbers out there. in the cnn poll of polls of iowa republicans, republican presidential candidate ted cruz leading the pack with 27%. trump isn't far behind, 25%. when you drop down, candidates such as jeb bush, only 5%. rick santorum, won the iowa caucuses four years ago, only 1%. the former senator joining us. you got a smile on your face. but only 1%. that number's not good. >> i ended up with 26% of the vote four years ago. >> and you won? >> i won the iowa caucus. at the time the poll was tack between years ago, i was at 2%. i don't think polls and caucuses are necessarily very active to begin with. i think they've proven over time they've been accurate at all. i don't agree with rand paul on a lot but i agree with the fact you're going to see a real mix-up going down the stretch here and you're going to see some folks come from the back of the pack and make the charge and

i'm going to be one of them. >> you have the ground game? >> i'm doing 80 town hall meetings between now and the caucuses. and we'll be -- i just came from des moines. i'll be heading back there in a day and a half. we're going to be just nonstop going and meeting with folks. i'll tell you what, measure nwe getting the big trump crowds but when they walk out, about 90% are not only with me but most of them are signing up to go to the caucus and speak on my behalf. >> did you try to get sarah palin -- >> i saw sarah in las vegas at the cnn event. but i -- >> our debate? >> yes, sarah -- i like sarah, i respect sarah, but we don't have that close of a relationship and i haven't reached out to her. >> you were both contributors at fox news so you must have worked together. >> no, we never did. >> really? >> no, again, i have a lot respect for her but we didn't interact that much. >> you never aggressively tried to get -- >> you ask around, i never tried to get anybody for endorsements. i don't think they matter.

i'd rather go out there and be my own person. all these folks who need people to vouch for them. i ran four years ago. people know i'm a consistent conservative. they know the values i represent. i don't need anybody else to come and vouch for the fact of my record. unlike a lot of these guys, they don't have a record so they need people to vouch for them. i have a record. i've run before. as you were talking earlier, i won 11 states. i fought here in washington, d.c. and broke up, you know, the establishment here in this town and got a lot to show for it. i don't really need anybody to say, here's what this guy's record is. >> is trump qualified to be commander in chief? >> i think you need experience in anything you do. if i was being interviewed by trump to be the ceo of his company, he'd say, well, what's your relevant experience to do this job? i would say that with frankly most of the people in this -- who are at the top of the field, they have very limited experience. it's not just donald trump but it's cruz and rubio. all of them have relatively

little experience. and i know people want someone to channel their anger and bust things up in washington. but you might want to go with someone who's proven that they'll do that as opposed to someone who says they're going to do it. i've said i was going to do it. i went and did it and succeeded. i think that's the differentiator for us. >> what would you ask hillary clinton if you were at the town hall that cnn's televising monday night with the democratic presidential candidates in iowa and you stood up and said, madam secretary? >> madam secretary, the pew foundation last week joined the cato institute, which say libertarian think tank, they joined the cato institute on a conference on how to undo and redo health care in america. pew was a huge supporter of the affordable care act. supported it, helped promote it. they now announced it's broken, it can't be fixed.

if honest liberals realized this system is broken, why are you embracing it? why are you going to continue to condemn people to high premiums, losing their coverage? this is not working. why are you still embracing it? >> what would you ask senator sand e sanders, who's doing remarkably well? >> why would you embrace a health care system that mirrors the veterans administration, government-run health care, when we know, unfortunately, if we can't take care of those we owe so much to, our veterans that have such a powerful support network around this country to make sure they're getting the best care, if the va can't do that for veterans, what makes you think that government-run health care for everybody is going to be any better than the va care? >> his argument is he wants medicare, which works for seniors, i assume you agree with that. he likes medicare. he wants it to be expanded to be for everyone. >> part of medicare is government run. part is private sector.

the drug program is more private sector oriented. the only part of medicare coming in under budget. i have no -- obviously i'm a supporter of medicare but i think we need to change medicare to bring in more market forces, to bring in more patient quality and control. bernie sanders wants to go the other direction. i think that's a fundamental difference. >> for you it's iowa, you have to do well in iowa to stay in this race, right? >> we will. i'll be one of the guys you're talking about on caucus night. >> rick santorum. for more, head other to cnn politics.com. coming up, senator ted cruz facing growing backlash from members in his own party. what's behind the growing dissent? to truly feel healthy on the outside you have to feel healthy... ...at your core. trubiotics a probiotic from one a day naturally helps support both your digestive and immune health by combining... ... two types of good bacteria. trubiotics. be true to your health.

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not hammering donald trump. democrats remind voters that bernie sanders described himself as a socialist. let's bring it all down with our panel. amanda car penter is joining us. she's also a former xun cations director for senator cruz. and democratic strategist doug hataway, is also the former adviser to the 2008 hillary campaign, former al gore campaign. republicans appear to be closing ranks with donald trump in an article in "the week" magazine, it lays out the case that trump could actually run the table in the primary election season, win both new hampshire and iowa earlier. how do you see the primary campaign at this point playing out? >> well, this is a really surprising development, to see guys like bob dole come out and say they would -- they would support donald trump over ted cruz. that said, there was a really interesting article in "the new york times" today written by martin where he interviewed bob dole and other members of the

donor class, establishment class, whatever you want to call it where they essentially make the case that we think donald trump is lobbiable. we can influence trump. we can't to that with cruz. which i think really bolsters ted cruz's candidacy. makes it awkward for people like bob dole to be cuddling up to trump but this is a crazy election. so we're going to see where it comes down. but there really is a struggle for the heart and soul of the republican party. we all thought somebody like jeb bush was going to be the establishment candidate. now it's looking more and more like donald trump will be. >> is trump the republican establishment candidate? >> that would be a surprise. i think the biggest thing, trouble facing trump right now is the fact that he is the presumptive winner. if you follow the history of these early states, as you guys do, you know that the polls don't predict the outcomes. you just talked to rick santorum

who was in single digits and then came back to win iowa. if you look at history, any of these candidates on the slate could actually score a win or come in a strong second or people even get credit for coming in third. so trump has been riding so high for so long. he's kind of been on a high horse. i think it's easy -- or i think the danger is expectations are so high and he doesn't perform as well as he himself has been saying he will. he could be in for quite a rude awakening. >> what happens, amanda, if donald trump wins in iowa? as we know, your candidate, senator cruz, he's spending an enormous amount of effort to win iowa. >> well, here's what happens. i just want to see a conservative win this race. i think cruz is well positioned to be that person. if trump does win iowa, i agree, the expectations are sky high. that will be a story. the question is, you know, can he keep going in new hampshire. he's just such an untraditional candidate, the polls that he's

enjoyed so far just seem to rewrite the playbook beso if the polls don't turn out to be true, that will be the rudest awakening of iowa. i think this is going to be a long game. i think we'll go well into super tuesday before we have a nominee. and can donald trump take knocks along the way? can he sustain not winning by double digits? can he sustain not being the front-runner that he's been for so long? seeing how he handles those kind of blows will be the most interesting. >> doug, gloves seem to be coming off rather impressively between the democratic front-runners, bernie sanders and hillary clinton, they're both trying to differentiate their positions. is there time to -- for caucusgoers, in new hampshire, to really appreciate what's going on, come up with a firm decision? >> i think so. we have the benefit of only having two candidates to sort through. one of the reasons why these

polls are not predictive in these early states is in primaries people really are taking their time to sort out between the candidates on issues, on temperament, on lots of things. whereas in the general election, most of the outcomes are predictable according to people's party affiliation. i think people -- i've never new hampshire very well, having worked up there for quite a bit over the years. i hope people will take their time. we've got two strong candidates who obviously have a lot of appeal across the party. they're trying to differentiate themselves on some issues. voters have a lot -- i think a lot of things on people's plates that they're looking at here in terms of experience who can take over in complicated times, who's striking the right tone in terms of people's anger with washington and uncertainty about the future. there's a lot to it beyond just the issue scorecards. >> from a republican perspective, amanda, you're a conservative, who would be a stronger challenger to the republican nominee, bernie

sanders or hillary clinton? >> oh, i think republicans without a doubt would rather face bernie sanders, if only for the fact that hillary clinton enjoys such a long network of support among the democratic party. she's going to have more resources and staff familiar with the way things go than bernie sanders probably ever will. just from that perspective, bernie sanders is better. but that said, i think hillary clinton is extraordinarily vulnerable and that's shown by the surge that bernie sanders had enjoyed. she can't put away bernie sanders, a guy who's campaigning on trillions and trillions of new taxes? that doesn't speak to the appeal of bernie sanders, that speaks to the weakness of hillary clinton. >> amanda carpenter, doug hathaway, thank you very much for joining us. a new report on the assassination of a former kgb spy could put russian president putin in a tough spot. cough] mike? janet? cough if you can hear me. don't even think about it.

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the murder of a former russian spy continues to haunt the government. now a new report says vladimir putin probably approved the assassination of a former kgb agent who was living ask working in britain. he died in london in 2006 three weeks after drinking some tea laced with a rare highly toxic chemical. diplomatic editor nic robertson is following this story closely. this is a very expensive report release d. what are the findings? >> reporter: it's a strong report, 327 pages. it says he was murdered by two former russian agents by poisoning the tea with a toxic

chemical. some of the highlights point out it has to be said there's no smoking gun that directly links president putin to the murder, but it says that he was probably responsible for authorizing this assassination. it says that the chemical can only be made at a nuclear reactor, which are controlled by a state agency. the only way that state agency could have transferred the chemical to the intelligence services to be used as a poison would require authorization from above the intelligence service and so this is one of the strong reasons they say that president putin must have been involved in the authorization of this sta state-sponsored assassination. >> earlier today his widow called for the expulsion of all

operatives from the uk for president putin. you just had had a conversation with her. what was it like? >> reporter: she was abit d disappointed because they u haven't followed through. they have frozen the assets of the murder suspects ask issued a european arrest warrant. she's disappointed in that regard but she holds president putin directly responsible for not turning them over to british authorities. this is what she told me. >> putin himself personally protected them. he himself, he himself provided um munty. he said it's not injustice. he protected him and he granted him to be a member. had it means he took all this responsibility.

>> a fascinating story. you're going to stay on top of it. thanks very much for that update. that's it for me. thanks very much for watching. the news continues right here on cnn, after a quick break. rheum, and you're talking to your rheumatologist about a biologic... this is humira. this is humira helping to relieve my pain and protect my joints from further damage. this is humira giving me new perspective. doctors have been prescribing humira for ten years. humira works for many adults. it targets and helps to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to ra symptoms. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores.

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great to be with you. i'm brooke baldwin. you're watching cnn. get ready for what could be a blizzard of, quote, epic proportions. this whopping 75 million people in the united states in the eastern united states now set to be in the path of this winter storm. we're talking as much as 2 feet of snow through kentucky through new jersey. right in the middle of it is our nation's capital. already dealing with a painful preview. the mayor apologizing after a dusting of snow last night